A Dearborn city councilman will miss tonight's State of the City address after being assaulted Sunday evening outside Joe Louis Arena.

Robert Abraham, who has served on the City Council since 2002, was attacked after the Red Wings game against the Chicago Blackhawks because the suspect took issue with friends of Abraham's son wearing Blackhawks gear.

Abraham's 22-year-old son is a senior at Loyola University in Chicago and came home to see the game with two friends from college.

"This one gentleman took exception to the Blackhawks jersey my son's friends were wearing and became very aggressive," Abraham said Monday evening, adding he tried to calm the man down. "He just couldn't let it go, and before I knew it I was on (my) back."

Abraham's wife and 14-year-old daughter were waiting on Jefferson Avenue to pick up the group. The assault happened about 10 feet from the car, he said.

"It was very frightening because you have no control. My daughter was terrified," said Mary Ann Abraham, Robert's wife. "I am sorry I didn't get the license plate of the vehicle, but I was more concerned with getting out of the area."

Mary Ann drove to Henry Ford Hospital where the councilman underwent a CT scan. He didn't break any bones, but has bruises and cuts on his face and needed four stitches to cover a wound near his eye.

"I'm a little sore and bruised and battered, but overall I'm going to be OK so I'm thankful for that," he said. "I guess that was the fortunate part, I was trying to prevent anything from happening to the boys. Unfortunately, it happened to me."

Detroit Police Sgt. Eren Stephens said officers are looking for witnesses of the incident and hoping surveillance video footage can uncover some clues.

"It's still being investigating," Stephens said. "We're still looking into it."

Abraham said he was toying with the idea of attending tonight's State of the City address, but he's "not feeling as hot" as he was earlier in the afternoon.

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Lol really? Lighten up. This kind of stuff happens in sports. It sucks when it happens in your city but there is nothing you can do about it. Hope he gets caught and move on.

I disagree. The ******* who did this, if its on security cameras or whatnot...and assuming he even went to the game, should be banned. What an embarrassment to Wings Nation...that guy isn't one of us, so he can stop pretending to be while at JLA, at least.

This is the kind of garbage that Hawks fans would try to blame on us.....HMMMM!!!

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I disagree. The ******* who did this, if its on security cameras or whatnot...and assuming he even went to the game, should be banned. What an embarrassment to Wings Nation...that guy isn't one of us, so he can stop pretending to be while at JLA, at least.

This is the kind of garbage that Hawks fans would try to blame on us.....HMMMM!!!

What you said.

And for the 2nd part, Chicago fans aren't exactly angels either when it comes to Detroit fans visiting United Center.

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That's unfortunate this happened to them...but what the hell was he wearing Chicago gear for...silly kids.

I assume you're kidding, but i won't wear Wings gear when I go to see them in Vancouver. As a matter of fact,when i got my new truck, I purposefully left the Wings decal off that I usually fly, because I cross the border into BC a lot and there are too many idiots up there and I don't need the hassle.

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Just further proof that idiots are part of every group. Rush Limbaugh doesn't speak for all conservatives. Just like these idiots who assaulted the councilman do not represent Red Wings fans as a whole. Yet, some people will be happy to look at this story and say that Wings fans are classy. Hell, we have seen it on these very forums. Remember when Vancouver rioted after they lost the cup in game 7? Everyone here was pointing at Canuck fans and saying they were classy.

The behavior of a select few idiots is not representative of the entire fan base. The sooner we all learn that, the better. No fanbase is without idiots, so we really shouldn't cast stones when we see stories of other idiots doing something and say their fanbase is crap because of it.

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I thought Detroit fans were better than this. Of course you're going to have them everywhere. Really hope that he's caught because there is NO excuse for behavior like this, a fan is allowed to support their team no matter where they are.

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That sucks, but holy s*** some of you are so over emotional. It sucks but these things happen ALL the time in sports, it's f'n stupid someone would fight over a sports team (considering none of us actually play for them)but EVERY city and majority of popular sports have s*** like this happen. Plus we are only hearing one side of the story, not that I'm saying he's lying (most likely is very accurate, compared to whoever did this justification). But it would be interesting to actually see this go down, as in did he say something back, or make some sort of action that set these guys off. Or were the guys just drunk assholes that you see outside South U on a Saturday night.

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The sad thing is people tend to paint their opinions of other fan bases with a wide brush. Not all, or even a majority, of Vancouver fans rioted after the SCF. It was a very small minority. I'll bet almost all Flyers' fans were appalled at the recent assault on the Rangers' fan.

I would hope that most people realize that. Detroit doesn't need, or deserve, the negative publicity.

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That sucks, but holy s*** some of you are so over emotional. It sucks but these things happen ALL the time in sports, it's f'n stupid someone would fight over a sports team (considering none of us actually play for them)but EVERY city and majority of popular sports have s*** like this happen. Plus we are only hearing one side of the story, not that I'm saying he's lying (most likely is very accurate, compared to whoever did this justification). But it would be interesting to actually see this go down, as in did he say something back, or make some sort of action that set these guys off. Or were the guys just drunk assholes that you see outside South U on a Saturday night.

Who beats up a man who is with his kids? That's not being over emotional.

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That's unfortunate this happened to them...but what the hell was he wearing Chicago gear for...silly kids.

Because he's a Hawks fan I'm guessing? Just like Wings fans do in Phoenix, and pretty much every other arena in Canada and the U.S.

That sucks, but holy s*** some of you are so over emotional. It sucks but these things happen ALL the time in sports, it's f'n stupid someone would fight over a sports team (considering none of us actually play for them)but EVERY city and majority of popular sports have s*** like this happen. Plus we are only hearing one side of the story, not that I'm saying he's lying (most likely is very accurate, compared to whoever did this justification). But it would be interesting to actually see this go down, as in did he say something back, or make some sort of action that set these guys off. Or were the guys just drunk assholes that you see outside South U on a Saturday night.

Who's getting emotional about it?

Talking about how unfortunate it is doesn't mean we're curled up in bed in the fetal position whimpering about it.

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